Mike Weber

January 29, 2013

After starting the season 2-0, in large part due to finding themselves the beneficiary of some calls that usually tend to go against them, the Buffalo Sabres find themselves at 2-3 after five games.

I'm digging a season where every game matters, by the way.

By no means are the Sabres in panic mode after dropping three straight. But given this abbreviated campaign, wins and losses at least seem to carry more weight than usual -- even though I keep telling myself it's still all relative.

That said, this type of situation certainly makes me feel like I'm much more justified when overreacting to what's going on on the ice. So maybe you think I'm crazy when I suggest that the Sabres trade Tyler Myers as soon as possible.

There are three main reasons I say this: 1) The Sabres are in need of an elite center, 2) they desperately need more offensensive weapons than merely Thomas Vanek, and 3) Tyler Myers apparently is a 6-8 pussy.

Despite adding some much-needed grit to the lineup with the additions of Steve Ott, John Scott, and Marcus Foligno, I'm still convinced the Sabres are two bold moves away from being taken seriously. Assuming one of these bold moves isn't going to be a change behind the bench, the next best thing is to go after Ryan Getzlaf (which I wrote about last season and would link to right now if I weren't using a work computer with a Windows 1927 browser).

It seemed to be conventional wisdom last year that a trade for Getzlaf started and ended with Tyler Myers. Assuming this were even possible this year, I doubt Darcy Regier would move him (which is another issue unto itself, but I digress), but I think you at least offer him up.

Maybe this is what you should expect from a 22-year-old who throws a $10 million signing bonus in the bank, but if all you're going to get out of a 6-8 defenseman is a guy who can skate the puck out of the zone (when he's not putting the puck right on an opponent's tape), well, we've already got four other ones who can do that.

Put simply, if you're not going to use a 6-8 frame to bruise the opposition, you're not worth very much (and certainly not $5 million a year). Now that Grigorenko is up for the year, I can't off the top of my head think of any center in the league who'd be better than Getzlaf at showing the new kid the ropes on the job. To say nothing about the instant firepower you'd add to both regular shifts and the power play. And Getzlaf's also 6-4.

I'm not arguing the Myers can't or won't improve. After all, you'd have to count on the Ducks valuing him as highly as they value Getzlaf (maybe even a little less given that Getzlaf's in a contract year). This move would be risky because Getzlaf is a free agent at the end of the season, but I'd think Regier would be able to offer him several million good reasons to stick around in Buffalo, especially with Myers's salary off the books.

I was happy to read today that Robyn Regehr and Alex Sulzer are going to be scratched in favor of Mike Weber and T.J. Brennan tonight. It shows that perhaps nothing is set in stone on the back end. But with eight NHL defenseman on the roster, you have to think there are some moves in the works.

Brennan, especially, needs to be playing every night now that he appears to have proven he's ready for a full time gig in the bigs. He can't be sent to Rochester because he'd almost certainly be claimed immediately. And if his AHL fight two weeks ago against Syracuse Crunch winger Richard Panik is any indication (Panik gave rookie Zemgus Girgensons a concussion with a cheap hit), he's already proven he's tougher than Myers too.

The biggest disappointment for me so far this year is the absence of Brayden McNabb, who last year looked like he was poised to give this team a much-needed physical upgrade on defense for years to come. At 6-4 himself and now a 2013 AHL all-star, he belongs with the parent club as well.

The Buffalo Sabres are stacked at D. It's time to utilize Myers's greatest asset -- his trade value -- to simultaneously add some more size and spark down the middle while making room for defensemen who are willing to clear the front of the net and make their opponents pay the price in the corners.

December 13, 2011

Fifteen years ago I would be freaking out about the Sabres recent spate of injuries. But I guess there's just something about pushing 40 that makes you realize there's more important things in life than worrying about the respective fates of charmed 20-somethings.

Or maybe it's just that I can barely bring myself to care much about sports these days after realizing that I'm now too old to play pro hockey even if I were once good enough (which I wasn't).

Whatever the case, there's a certain amount of satisfaction that comes with my newfound sobriety towards the Buffalo Sabres (however depressing its genesis may be). Whereas I was unable to approach my Sabres analysis with little more than unbridled emotion back in the day, I now find myself capable of applying the same type of rationality that I bring to virtually any other situation. (Okay, most of the time.. fuck off.)

Like every other Sabres fan, I've had a long time to assess and digest the abilities of Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier. A looooong time. These guys are clearly two of the best in their field at what they do. They're both Grade A talents with A-Class character. I don't think that's ever really been in question. One thing that is in question, however, is whether these guys are the right men for the job in Buffalo.

After all these years together, Ruff and Regier might as well literally be joined at the hip. Regier is not going to fire Ruff. If Ruff ever goes, Regier will be going with him. Regier will never fire his best friend. Never. You just don't do that sort of thing, and as a man I can at least respect that.

I'd be willing to bet it's Ruff and Regier's relationship over the past dozen years that's been the primary cause of most of the good that's come to the Sabres organization during that span, nearly all of which probably goes unseen by the fans and in some cases even ownership. Building trust between employer and employee is crucial to performance; treating subordinates as peers often breeds respect. However, too much trust can lead to complacency. And if you're not careful, being too friendly with your players can extinguish respect for authority. You get the idea. Every benefit has a cost.

And so it is with the injury bug.

As I think we've all written a couple times, I don't like the team's reliance on all the injuries as the reason for its poor record the past few weeks. If anything, it's primarily the roster players who have made untimely decisions that have cost the Sabres wins. That said, Ruff has done a good job managing the lineup and lines during a stretch that no coach would ever want to endure. Although hardly tough decisions, he has rewarded Kassian for his outstanding play with increased ice time, and he's also made the right call in keeping Brayden McNabb in Buffalo despite Mike Weber's return to the lineup. Similarly, the fantastic play of guys like Kassian, McNabb, Tropp, and Brennan -- especially given their NHL inexperience -- is a testament to Regier's ability to draft and develop top talent. These two guys will have jobs in the NHL as long as they want them.

Ironically, however, we're nevertheless left to wonder why the Sabres play so inconsistently night in and night out. (This is not unique to the Sabres, but not every coach enjoys a 13-year tenure with one club either.) Why they refuse to finish checks unless they feel like it. Why Thomas Vanek, Cody McCormick, and Pat Kaleta have trouble finding teammates who will actually bust their asses every goddamned shift like they do. Why a system that has lost effectiveness after taking teams by surprise six years ago seemingly hasn't adapted even though the rest of the league has caught on to the secret. Why a power play has, on balance, buh-lown! for years. These are the responsibilities of the coach. Ruff has undeniably done very good things with subpar NHL talent over the years -- if we're to believe Regier's hands were tied under Golisano and Quinn, that is -- so I don't question his ability to coach; I question why he has not gotten better results considering he's had the luxury of knowing his team better than anyone save perhaps for Barry Trotz.

That said, even more interesting amid all these injuries is the Darcy Regier situation. Will GMDR finally move assets before they've overstayed their welcome now that we almost unquestionably know that the kids on the farm can play and perform? The silver lining to the injury bug is that Regier now knows (or should know) he has the luxury of dumping salary to gain cap space while simultaneously improving the team. (I know, right!!) Does anyone even remember Brad Boyes? Zack Kassian not only outperforms him right now, he costs over three million a year less. (Oh, and he kind of resembles that nasty Milan Lucic guy, who I would love to have on my team.) Corey Tropp is going to be awesome, so Regier could likely shop Kaleta right now before his propensity for injuries renders him damaged goods. Finally, even though Jochen Hecht brings intangibles and leadership, you can't tell me Szczechura isn't an even swap offensively if Hecht and his four million could be packaged to land one more big gun up front. By the way, we've still got Marcus Foligno in Rochester.

And I know Buffalo can never seem to have enough defensemen, but right now we have Ehrhoff, Myers, Leopold, Sekera, Gragnani, Regehr, Weber, and McNabb with Brennan, Finley, and Schiestel in the immediate pipeline. Seriously, there is no reason teams even score on us, much less any reason our D can't put the puck in the net every effing game. We have an imbalance of offensive defensemen already with more ready for promotion, so there's at least two that can be moved tomorrow. Myers-McNabb can be Niedermayer-Pronger in a few years, but anyone else is fair game. I think Sekera would look good in Ranger blue.

The tragic irony here is whether you actually want Darcy Regier at the controls when it comes to making decisions that will impact the team for years ahead. Ted Black should have his hands full right now, but if there's one thing that has to change for Regier to keep his job, he has to learn to cut his homegrown players loose. He won't fire Ruff, but if he refuses to acknowledge the opportunities before him and act now, we will have substantive proof that our addiction to untimely injuries is nothing compared to our deep-seated disease that is a complacent GM.

November 21, 2011

So you think you have the luxury of making Mike Weber and Tyler Myers healthy scratches, huh? Apparently the hockey gods were a bunch of talented young defensemen who at times found themselves at odds with their coach.

"We give you two perfectly healthy physical defensemen," you can practically hear them scolding, "and this is how you repay us!"

No longer. Weber has already been placed on injured reserved, out for "weeks" with an undisclosed upper body injury. Now we find that Tyler Myers will be out 4-6 weeks with a broken wrist suffered during the second period of Saturday's 4-2 loss to the Coyotes.

The Sabres have summoned T.J. Brennan from the Rochester Americans to fill in for Myers Wednesday against Boston. Given that this will be Brennan's first gig in the NHL, we'll obviously have to see how he plays before we know how long he'll be able to stick around.

For a team that started the season with seven healthy, capable defensemen, the D's looking pretty thin now. We'll just have to hope Brennan can at least hold his own. We knew Shaone Morrisonn sucked, but it's pretty bad when a former NHL regular with some size isn't even the first in line to be recalled from the minor league club in an emergency.

As I was lying on my couch back on April 21 watching reruns of the 2011 first round playoff matchups on NHL Network, I wasn't expecting to hear the best hockey quote of all time (well, save perhaps for the time Jim Schoenfeld called referee Don Koharski a fat pig ... hard to top that one).

Tampa Bay Lightning coach Guy Boucher was at the podium taking questions after his guys had just lost in double overtime to go down 3-1 in their series against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Then it happened. You faintly heard a reporter ask Boucher if he thought the Lightning could come back to win the series. Boucher shot him a glare as if he was imagining blowing the guy's head off with laser beams and said (and I paraphrase), "If you knew me you wouldn't even ask me that question." He said he'd seen it before, done it before.

And then he said the one thing that made me an instant fan: "It's not about momentum; it's about desperation."

Apparently so. The Lightning came back to eliminate the Pens in Game 7 and went on to sweep the Caps in round two.

Notwithstanding the fact that I think that's a great quote in general, I think it resonated with me more than it normally would have because if there's one thing that consistently seems to be missing from Buffalo's game, it's desperation. Or, more specifically, 60 minutes worth per game. The Sabres always seem to be able to pour it on in the last few minutes when they're down 4-1.

Now, I realize it might seem a bit silly to complain about this right now. At the time of this writing the Sabres are currently sitting atop the Northeast division and are in second place in the Eastern Conference with 24 points, just one behind Philly and three behind Minnesota and Chicago, who lead the NHL.

Still, to me it feels like the Sabres have this statistical advantage despite their play, not because of it. Before you dismiss me as a garden-variety cynic, consider this: a mere two points separate Buffalo from eighth place Ottawa. That means that by the next time the Sabres lace up for a game, which is two days from now, the standings could look considerably different.

Yes, it's only November. There's not even any such thing as the "playoff picture" until February. But considering the recent games against Boston and New Jersey looked like "Men vs. Boys I & II," respectively, with the Sabres being thoroughly outworked and overmatched in both contests, I see their current 12-8 record as a bit of an anomaly. If Vanek and Pominville were starting as slowly as the rest of the team, these guys would probably be mired in last place with the Islanders.

Through the first 20 games of the season, the Sabres' outings seem to be going a little like my golf game. It never fails. I'll hit a monster 300 yard drive down the middle of the fairway, then shank the approach and five-putt. And, of course, whenever it takes me six strokes to reach the green, I'll sink my first putt. In short, if I could pick and choose my best shots from each hole and magically combine them into one series every time, I'd be on the pro tour.

And so it seems to be going for Buffalo. They've tended to start slowly, especially at home, and if Miller or Enroth have been able to withstand the first 10-20 minutes, they can usually pull out a W. And just when they finally come out of the gate flying and taking the fight to the opponent, as they did Saturday night against the Coyotes in Buffalo, Enroth lets in a couple softies and turns in a subpar performance.

Thankfully for the Sabres and their fans, these guys actually are pro athletes. While there's no hope for my golf game, these guys still have a sporting chance to learn to put together a full 60 minutes of hockey every game (Psst: I'd even take 55). Maybe it's true that Leino just has to find some chemistry with new linemates and Ehrhoff has to find some open lanes to the net. Regardless, it all starts with determination. And not just by Matt Ellis and Corey Tropp.

With injuries starting to pile up -- Hecht, Ennis, McCormick, Miller, and Weber are all still out and you know the news isn't going to be great on Myers -- it's gut check time for the Sabres. No better time to start digging deep than the rematch against Boston on Wednesday.